Volume 11, number 4: october 1, 2004
FUNDING TIPS
Reviewer Criteria for Grant Applications
Want to know what criteria reviewers use to evaluate your grant applications? Some federal agencies such as the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have a single set of reviewer guidelines, so you can see how submissions will be judged before you submit your application.
Although the Department of Education (ED) reviewers generally use the selection criteria published in the Federal Register as part of the program regulations, ED also has a default selection criteria list if there are no program regulations. To see the reviewer criteria for these agencies, click on the links below.
National Science Foundation Reviewer Criteria
National Institutes of Health Guidelines
Department of Education Default Criteria
Fine-Tuning Your COS Funding Alert Profile
Perhaps you already have a Community of Science Funding Alert but are not getting the search results you would like? Or your research interests may have changed in recent years? We have noticed that many faculty members are still receiving results from the default "All Keywords" or "Introductory" Funding Alert search. This very broad search uses only the keywords that have been assigned to your profile based on your initial registration, and often results in a large number of irrelevant records and inbox clutter. However, your COS Funding Alert can be customized to run very specific searches. Please contact the GrantSource Library at 929-3463 or gs@unc.edu for assistance in fine-tuning your funding alert profile, or consult this tip sheet.
Looking for Foundation Funding?
If you are interested in foundation funding, you can sign up for a free electronic Funding Watch from the Foundation Center. Specialized Funding Watch newsletters are available for education, health, and the arts. Each newsletter has valuable information and news about funding in the discipline, as well as notices of important upcoming deadlines for foundation funding opportunities.
Instructions for signing up are available on the Foundation Center website.
Success Rates for National Institutes of Health Grants
If you are thinking about applying for a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant, you can find information about the success rates for all NIH awards on the Success Rates page of the NIH website. Current data is broken down by fiscal year as well as by funding mechanism, type of grant and activity, institute/center, and recipient. NIH also provides long-term trends and historical data about its awards on this webpage.
Funding Help for the 12th Congressional District
The office of Melvin Watt, the U.S. Congressman for the 12th District, provides help for residents of North Carolina's 12th congressional district who are seeking grants. Each week his office compiles a list of funding opportunities from the Federal Register, which is available to interested agencies. In addition, his office holds a yearly grant conference with topics such as the “Funding Search and Application Process” and “Grant Opportunities Provided by Federal Agencies.”
Congressman Watt also states that he is happy to write letters of support
on behalf of applications for federal funding programs for his constituents.
For further information, or to be added to the mailing list, please contact
Grants Coordinator, Carrie Hanger at:
1230 West Morehead Street, Suite 306
Charlotte, NC 28208-5206
phone: (704) 344-9950
fax: (704) 344-9971
The congressman’s webpage also lists some useful links for North
Carolina funding organizations, as well as additional contact information.